Dublin Statement on Water
and Sustainable Development, International Conference on Water and the Environment:
Development Issues for the 21st Century, Dublin, Ireland (1992).

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Concerted action is needed to reverse the present trends of overconsumption,
pollution, and rising threats from drought and floods. The Conference Report
sets out recommendations for action at local, national and international levels,
based on four guiding principles.

Principle No. 1 - Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential
to sustain life, development and the environment

Since water sustains life, effective management of water resources demands
a holistic approach, linking social and economic development with protection
of natural ecosystems. Effective management links land and water uses across
the whole of a catchment area or groundwater aquifer.

Principle No. 2 - Water development and management should be based on a participatory
approach, involving users, planners and policy-makers at all levels

The participatory approach involves raising awareness of the importance of
water among policy-makers and the general public. It means that decisions are
taken at the lowest appropriate level, with full public consultation and involvement
of users in the planning and implementation of water projects.

Principle No. 3 - Women play a central part in the provision, management and
safeguarding of water

This pivotal role of women as providers and users of water and guardians of
the living environment has seldom been reflected in institutional arrangements
for the development and management of water resources. Acceptance and implementation
of this principle requires positive policies to address womenþs specific
needs and to equip and empower women to participate at all levels in water resources
programmes, including decision-making and implementation, in ways defined by
them.

Principle No. 4 - Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and
should be recognized as an economic good

Within this principle, it is vital to recognize first the basic right of all
human beings to have access to clean water and sanitation at an affordable price.
Past failure to recognize the economic value of water has led to wasteful and
environmentally damaging uses of the resource. Managing water as an economic
good is an important way of achieving efficient and equitable use, and of encouraging
conservation and protection of water resources.

THE ACTION AGENDA

Based on these four guiding principles, the Conference participants developed
recommendations which enable countries to tackle their water resources problems
on a wide range of fronts. The major benefits to come from implementation of
the Dublin recommendations will be:

Alleviation of poverty and disease

At the start of the 1990s, more than a quarter of the worldþs population
still lack the basic human needs of enough food to eat, a clean water supply
and hygienic means of sanitation. The Conference recommends that priority be
given in water resources development and management to the accelerated provision
of food, water and sanitation to these unserved millions.

Protection against natural disasters

Lack of preparedness, often aggravated by lack of data, means that droughts
and floods take a huge toll in deaths, misery and economic loss. Economic losses
from natural disasters, including floods and droughts, increased three-fold
between the 1960s and the 1980s. Development is being set back for years in
some developing countries, because investments have not been made in basic data
collection and disaster preparedness. Projected climate change and rising sea-levels
will intensify the risk for some, while also threatening the apparent security
of existing water resources.

Damages and loss of life from floods and droughts can be drastically reduced
by the disaster preparedness actions recommended in the Dublin Conference Report.

Water conservation and reuse

Current patterns of water use involve excessive waste. There is great scope
for water savings in agriculture, in industry and in domestic water supplies.

Irrigated agriculture accounts for about 80% of water withdrawals in the world.
In many irrigation schemes, up to 60% of this water is lost on its way from
the source to the plant. More efficient irrigation practices will lead to substantial
freshwater savings.

Recycling could reduce the consumption of many industrial consumers by 50%
or more, with the additional benefit of reduced pollution. Application of the
"polluter pays" principle and realistic water pricing will encourage
conservation and reuse. On average, 36% of the water produced by urban water
utilities in developing countries is "unaccounted for". Better management
could reduce these costly losses.

Combined savings in agriculture, industry and domestic water supplies could
significantly defer investment in costly new water-resource development and
have enormous impact on the sustainability of future supplies. More savings
will come from multiple use of water. Compliance with effective discharge standards,
based on new water protection objectives, will enable successive downstream
consumers to reuse water which presently is too contaminated after the first
use.

Sustainable urban development

The sustainability of urban growth is threatened by curtailment of the copious
supplies of cheap water, as a result of the depletion and degradation caused
by past profligacy. After a generation or more of excessive water use and reckless
discharge of municipal and industrial wastes, the situation in the majority
of the worldþs major cities is appalling and getting worse. As water scarcity
and pollution force development of ever more distant sources, marginal costs
of meeting fresh demands are growing rapidly. Future guaranteed supplies must
be based on appropriate water charges and discharge controls. Residual contamination
of land and water can no longer be seen as a reasonable trade-off for the jobs
and prosperity brought by industrial growth.

Agricultural production and rural water supply

Achieving food security is a high priority in many countries, and agriculture
must not only provide food for rising populations, but also save water for other
uses. The challenge is to develop and apply water-saving technology and management
methods, and, through capacity building, enable communities to introduce institutions
and incentives for the rural population to adopt new approaches, for both rainfed
and irrigated agriculture. The rural population must also have better
access to a potable water supply and to sanitation services. It is an immense
task, but not an impossible one, provided appropriate policies and programmes
are adopted at all levelsþlocal, national and international.

Protecting aquatic ecosystems

Water is a vital part of the environment and a home for many forms of life
on which the well-being of humans ultimately depends. Disruption of flows has
reduced the productivity of many such ecosystems, devastated fisheries, agriculture
and grazing, and marginalized the rural communities which rely on these. Various
kinds of pollution, including transboundary pollution, exacerbate these problems,
degrade water supplies, require more expensive water treatment, destroy aquatic
fauna, and deny recreation opportunities.

Integrated management of river basins provides the opportunity to safeguard
aquatic ecosystems, and make their benefits available to society on a sustainable
basis.

Resolving water conflicts

The most appropriate geographical entity for the planning and management of
water resources is the river basin, including surface and groundwater. Ideally,
the effective integrated planning and development of transboundary river or
lake basins has similar institutional requirements to a basin entirely within
one country. The essential function of existing international basin organizations
is one of reconciling and harmonizing the interests of riparian countries, monitoring
water quantity
and quality, development of concerted action programmes, exchange of information,
and enforcing agreements.

In the coming decades, management of international watersheds will greatly
increase in importance. A high priority should therefore be given to the preparation
and implementation of integrated management plans, endorsed by all affected
governments and backed by international agreements.

The enabling environment

Implementation of action programmes for water and sustainable development
will require a substantial investment, not only in the capital projects concerned,
but, crucially, in building the capacity of people and institutions to plan
and implement those projects.

The knowledge base

Measurement of components of the water cycle, in quantity and quality, and
of other characteristics of the environment affecting water are an essential
basis for undertaking effective water management. Research and analysis techniques,
applied on an interdisciplinary basis, permit the understanding of these data
and their application to many uses.

With the threat of global warming due to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations
in the atmosphere, the need for measurements and data exchange on the hydrological
cycle on a global scale is evident. The data are required to understand both
the worldþs climate system and the potential impacts on water resources
of climate change and sea level rise. All countries must participate and, where
necessary, be assisted to take part in the global monitoring, the study of the
effects and the development of appropriate response strategies.

Capacity building

All actions identified in the Dublin Conference Report require well-trained
and qualified personnel. Countries should identify, as part of national development
plans, training needs for water-resources assessment and management, and take
steps internally and, if necessary with technical co-operation agencies, to
provide the required training, and working conditions which help to retain the
trained personnel.

Governments must also assess their capacity to equip their water and other
specialists to implement the full range of activities for integrated water-resources
management. This requires provision of an enabling environment in terms of institutional
and legal arrangements, including those for effective water-demand management.

Awareness raising is a vital part of a participatory approach to water resources
management. Information, education and communication support programmes must
be an integral part of the development process.